Tear Gas hail from Glasgow and this is their second album released in ’71. Alex Harvey was looking for a band to bring his music to life, and he saw these guys playing and thought they would be the perfect match for his vision. Three of the band, Zal Cleminson (guitar), Chris Glen (bass), and Ted McKenna (drums) would join Harvey’s new band straight away, and vocalist Davey Bachelor would be the bands producer.
The music on here is very much of the period. That’s What’s Real opens with a very heavy blues and with instrumental sections that would be extended Live. They do a killer version of Jethro Tull’s Love Story which SAHB would cover later on the Penthouse Tapes album. Women For Sale is very reminiscent of Free’s Fire And Water. I really like I’m Glad as there is lots of self indulgence with Zal letting loose on the guitar. There are a couple of old rock n roll covers to fill out the album, but it’s better than their first album, Piggy Go Getter. It’s a cool insight to what the band were into before SAHB.
7.5/10 from The Grooveman.
